'Stars' celebrate EARTH

April 23, 2001|By Michael Jones

In preparation for Earth Day on April 22, students at Gaylord Community Schools' STARS preschool program learned about the effect oil spills have on the environment; recycling; and other ways to help protect natural resources.

STARS teacher Patti Lingaur set up several learning center stations in her classroom at the Maple MAP Building, and with the help of parent volunteers, gave her little "STARS" the chance to build a better understanding of environmental issues.

Students moved from center to center, each station providing several hands-on opportunities designed to spark an interest in the environment. At one center students learned how to sort recyclable items commonly found in the home.

Several children were busy sorting through a pile of household items and grouping them by the raw materials from which the items were made. Newspapers, cereal boxes, plastic cups, aluminum foil and tin cans all found their way to the appropriate recycling boxes at one end of the classroom.

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"Does anyone know what paper is made from?" Lingaur asked a group of students. Almost in unison the children said paper was made from trees.

"That's right. And the more paper we recycle, the fewer trees we need to use to make new paper."

At other centers, students listened to a story on recycling; at another, they used recycled foam trays for an art project, coloring on them.

The station which drew the greatest attention, however, was a small, make-believe lake, which was experiencing an all-too-common problem in the environment - pollution.

With the entire class gathered around the lake, Linguar asked the students to name some things commonly found in the water. With each answer, she deposited the item into the lake. In went a fish (plastic), rocks, shells, wood and a boat.

"It seems there is some gas and oil leaking from the boat," explained Lingaur, as she poured a small amount of vegetable oil into the water to represent an oil spill. "Does anyone have an idea of how we can clean up the spill?"

"What about a spoon to scoop up all the oil?" suggested Sarahanne Anderson. A spoon was produced and Anderson attempted to scoop up the oil.

"What's happening?" asked Lingaur. "Instead of one big puddle of oil, it's now broken up into several smaller puddles."

Other suggestions were offered as the class brainstormed ways to clean up the oil spill. An attempt was made to vacuum up the spill and another to soak it up with a paper towel, both of which met with little success.

Lingaur asked the class to think about other ways to clean up the spill and on Friday would share with them some ways to try and clean up the polluted water.

"They came up with some really good ideas when they came back to school the next day," said Lingaur. "You could tell they put a lot of thought into it."